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Report: Pujols’ agent targeting A-Rod deal

Both the Cardinals and Albert Pujols’ agent, Danny Lozano, are staunchly avoiding giving updates regarding Pujols’ contract negotiations. However, an SI.com report on Monday gave some impression as to what Pujols’ camp may be seeking — something in the neighborhood of Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year, $275-million pact with the Yankees.

According to a story at that site on Monday, “early word is that Pujols has used A-Rod’s contract… as the only comp.” The report goes on to suggest that the Cardinals have little stomach for terms such as those, and that they “are said to have initially suggested” a deal with a similar average annual value but over fewer years.

As the report suggests, it is difficult to envision the Cardinals guaranteeing 10 years to a player who will be 32 at the beginning of his next contract. However, if the sides are already talking about a similar average annual value to Rodriguez’s $27.5 million, that would seem to remove one major potential stumbling block.

Pujols is entering the final year of a contract that will end up paying him $111 million over eight seasons. He has told the club that he will not continue to negotiate once Spring Training starts.

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When will you bumpkins realize that Albert Pujols will not be a Cardinal after this season? He will demand more money than the team could afford. Pujols would have to be a complete idiot to re-sign with the Cards at a discount. What is the point of free agency if you don’t take the biggest contract possible? Kiss the greedy turkey goodbye. See yah!

Albert Pujols should have been traded if the Cardinals wanted to contend in the future. I love it when people say he will play here the rest of his career. Not a chance that will happen. Ken Griffey, Jr left the Mariners after hitting 398 home runs, 1152 RBI, and a .299 BA. Pujols has 405 home runs, 1221 RBI, and a .331 BA. Things happen for a reason. Players want bigger contracts and move on. If Pujols was traded, it would have made the team better and stronger in the future. People that don’t understand that know very little about the business economics of baseball.

When will you bumpkins realize that Albert Pujols will not be a Cardinal after this season? He will demand more money than the team could afford. Pujols would have to be a complete idiot to re-sign with the Cards at a discount. What is the point of free agency if you don’t take the biggest contract possible? Kiss the greedy turkey goodbye. See yah!

Albert Pujols should have been traded if the Cardinals wanted to contend in the future. I love it when people say he will play here the rest of his career. Not a chance that will happen. Ken Griffey, Jr left the Mariners after hitting 398 home runs, 1152 RBI, and a .299 BA. Pujols has 405 home runs, 1221 RBI, and a .331 BA. Things happen for a reason. Players want bigger contracts and move on. If Pujols was traded, it would have made the team better and stronger in the future. People that don’t understand that know very little about the business economics of baseball.

When will you bumpkins realize that Albert Pujols will not be a Cardinal after this season? He will demand more money than the team could afford. Pujols would have to be a complete idiot to re-sign with the Cards at a discount. What is the point of free agency if you don’t take the biggest contract possible? Kiss the greedy turkey goodbye. See yah!

Selfishly wanting to hold on to a player just to tell everybody he plays on the Cardinals is ridiculous. He will be making 10 times the MLB average salary. No player is worth that type of money. There are a dozen 1st basemen that would fill in just fine, and drive in over 100 RBI every year. Berkman was already hired to be Pujols replacement starting in 2012. You people trying to argue this point amaze the heck out of me. Pujols would be one of the dumbest people on the face of this Earth if he decided to stay and play for the Cardinals. Pujols needed to be traded this offseason, and other areas could have been improved.

Considering Pujols will want much more than the $32MM A-Rod made in 2010, and at least an 7-8 year contract, for a $240MM- $280MM contract, they should have looked into possible trade scenarios to unload him. Now he could possibly become a free agent and they’re stuck with nothing except draft choices. If they continue to gamble on him signing, you’re looking at last place city, for the Cards. If they somehow get him to sign, too much of the team’s total payroll will be going to one player, and that would be ridiculously stupid! They would have to dump payroll to make up for it. Most notably, losing Chris Carpenter.

Pujols will be hurting the team more than helping it if he signs a gigantic contract. That is exactly why they signed Berkman to replace him, who is a klutz in the OF and a defensive liability. It’s going to be a real comedy of errors in the OF this year with Berkman, Holliday, and Rasmus. Berkman can easily be extended to a longer contract to play 1st base, and for a fraction of what Pujols will get, which will be the richest contract in baseball. Say goodbye to Albert. He will be hurting the team if he stays any longer. Look for Mozeliak to trade him at the deadline, when the Cardinals are 12 games out! See yah! Wave goodbye to Albert.

Pujols has been on this team since 2001. Since then he has been paid $200K in 2001, $600K in 2002, $900 K in 2003, $7MM in 2004, $11MM in 2005, $14MM in 2006, $15MM in 2007, $16MM in 2008, $16MM in 2009, $16MM in 2010, and $16MM in 2011. After bonuses and incentives, he has been paid well over $100MM, and for what? One World Series ring? For you people wearing the rose colored glasses, I hate to break it to you, but that’s one championship since 1983! What makes you think giving him a bigger contract will bring a championship caliber team. Highly unlikely. Signing Albert to an extended contract will financially strap the team beyond repair and make it critical to trim payroll. If the team gives him an additional $15MM more per year, that $15MM will have to be cut somewhere else. Let the goon go as a free agent. He deserves it.

Nice long post, and I agree with everything you said. I think an awful lot of Cardinals fans are really getting sick of Albert Pujols holier-than-thou attitude. His paper thin attempt at occasionally doing something to help the community is wearing thin and phony. There is no loyalty in professional sports, and don’t for a minute think Albert is any different. He has his mind made up he will not settle on a contract this year. He will go to the highest bidder next offseason, and will make more per year than the $32MM A-Rod made last year. Why would any sports figure do anything different? The whole time he has been in St. Louis he has said he wants to stay. Most ballplayers will say that if they know what’s good for them. When he leaves, he won’t even look back. Why would any multimillion dollar ballplayer want to stay in a dump like St. Louis. I think he would be happy to leave.

The saddest thing about Pujols is when being interviewed yesterday, he kept referring to the Cardinals as “My team”. He wasn’t saying that in a team type of spirit either. He was referring to himself as THE player on this team. The word “team” doesn’t have an “I” in it, Albert. I think if he is greedy enough to think the others on this team don’t contribute their share, he is sadly mistaken. It is best for the Cards to let him walk and get the draft choices. Of course, if they are 12 games out of it by the break, they will look into trading him as a 2 month rental for a team actually going somewhere.

Not sure I appreciate being spoken for. St. Louis fans would love and hope to see Albert stay with the Cardinals for the remainder of his career. I don’t believe that his help in the community has gone unnoticed and I don’t believe that he is a player that will sell his services to the highest bidder. I have never gotten the impression that Pujols has been anything but humble for the appreciation that Cardinal nation has offered. I fully expect to see him in a Cardinal uniform for the next 10 years.

OK first you might want to know he can and will reject any trade unless he wants it! Albert is full no trade rights. I dont think Albert is phony or thin but that being said you have to know he will have elbow problems on both arms in the near future and I do agree that a big contract will hurt putting good players around him which was one of Alberts demands he made last summer. I would ask Albert how do I put a winning team around you if I pay you 30 plus million a year and ask him what he wants to do? It would be nice to see someone like Stan Musial play their entire career with one team like the old days but with free agency that may never happen again.

Hey Cardinal fans….you heard it here…Pujols is gone….He constantly says 2 things: (l) I want to be a Cardinal forever and (2) He says he has enough money and that money is not a factor….notice his nose is growing longer by the day….I would like for him to stay but not at the expense of building up excellent players….as the man said: How many World Series have the Cards won with Pujols?? Let him walk…the Yankees want him and they have the dollars to pay this prima-dona…just another greedy ballplayer who seems to not give a damn about the Cardinals…As Yankee manager once said, “money talks and ******** walks!”

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